Thriving companies: Hardwired for software

Conductor brings its clients' names to the top of web search lists.

Conductor Inc. isn't a real estate company, but it's as driven by the mantra “Location, location, location” as any property outfit can be. Since its launch in 2005, the Manhattan-based software firm has helped a roster of diverse customers, including Marriott and New York Life, repeatedly catapult to the top spots on search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing.Conductor's search engine optimization, or SEO, software manipulates online words, images and web pages to boost a customer's website so that it appears as high as possible in natural search results (as opposed to high placements via paid ads). “The higher the listing, the more clicks it gets,” explains Seth Besmertnik, a Conductor co-founder and its chief executive.Natural search results account for 92% of all search engine click-throughs, according to comScore, a digital market research firm. Yet companies clearly are willing to go the paid-ad route because it provides them with a quantifiable return on investment. Last year alone, marketers spent more than $15 billion in the United States on paid search engine ads, according to Forrester Research.

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With that kind of payoff in mind, Conductor has devised a subscription-based software to help companies not only land on top of the heap in free search engine listings but also improve the volume and quality of their traffic and measure the fruits of their SEO efforts. Subscribers pay $35,000 to $210,000 annually. “Paid ads are working well,” Mr. Besmertnik says, “but companies could do more, and natural search results are an untapped opportunity to build a company's presence.”
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Conductor attracted $12 million in venture capital between 2007 and 2009, and the firm is on track to reach $18 million in revenue this year, from $250,000 in 2006. FirstMark Capital, which provided VC funding to Conductor in late 2006, couldn't be more satisfied. “It was an opportunity to align with a visionary young entrepreneur who had gotten great initial traction with leading Internet marketers in an important market: natural search,” says Amish Jani, a managing director of FirstMark.The growth spurt extends to the employee roster, too: The 70-worker firm is looking to fill some 25 positions, after making key hires last year such as a chief financial officer, a senior vice president of worldwide sales and a vice president of engineering. Conductor's new digs―16,000 square feet dotted with plasma TVs, which keep employees tuned in to the firm's performance with a running tally of new customers—is its fourth home since 2006.Apparently, Mr. Besmertnik doesn't expect his current space to be the firm's last. “My goal now,” he says, “is to be the biggest independent tech company to ever come out of New York City.”CORRECTION: Amish Jani is a managing director at FirstMark Capital. His name was misstated an earlier version of this article.